Plan ahead for expenses. One problem I used to fall into was having to charge an unexpected expense, then repay it. But you know what? Many “unexpected” expenses aren’t really a surprise. For instance, my daughter goes to a private school, and her tuition is due in a couple weeks. Now I divide our annual amount (rounded up) by 12 and save that much each month. I’ve entered it as a bill in Quicken and I pay it (and make the transfer to the savings account) monthly. I recently started saving another piece to pay for summer camps — which made a real dent in our finances this spring. Similarly, we all know certain costs are coming up: Insurance, taxes, 30,000-mile maintenance on the car, new roofs (or in our case, driveways). Make the choice to budget for these expenses — it is truly a relief to simply write a check with no worries.

Make it automatic. Do automatic transfers when you can. I started doing the “dollar a day” savings last month. Wow! Since the end of June, my account has an extra $42, and I didn’t feel a thing. ING Direct pulls the money into my account every week. After a few months, I’ll start investing it in a retirement fund, and voila! Savings.

Get an emergency fund. Start with something small. $1,000. If you can’t do that, a few hundred. Use it when you need to. Know you have money for groceries/gas/the phone, no matter what. Add to it at any opportunity.

Don’t pass up benefits. If your company matches retirement contributions, by all means, contribute. If you don’t, you’re saying “no thanks” to part of your paycheck.